Early College High School Provides Students With a Jump-Start on College
bill & melinda gates foundation, clarissa gonzalez, early college high school, education, harlingen independent consolidated school district, learning, schools, texas state technical college,
At Early College High School, students don’t wonder about what courses they’ll be taking in college – they’re already taking them.
The school, which welcomed its inaugural class of 96 students in fall 2007, will eventually house 400 pupils. In addition to a full high school course load, each student also will be venturing across the street to Texas State Technical College for classes there. By graduation, the students will have garnered enough college credits for an associate degree, or to translate those credits to enter as juniors into a four-year program.
Harlingen Independent Consolidated School District is one of seven school districts and two community colleges in Texas to receive an ECHS grant, and it also receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Early College High School operates under the supervision of the Texas Education Agency and is quickly catching on with students and parents, says Veronica Kortan, director.
“We’re having good success so far,” Kortan says. “Our first quarter-finals were a huge week; we had students falling asleep studying. But now they know the kind of dedication this takes, and what they need to do, and they’re here to work.”
For its initial class, the school chose students from throughout the district, ranging from honor-roll students to those with average grades.
Almost 77 percent of these students will be the first generation of their family to attend college. That factor was a plus but not necessarily a requirement during the selection process.
“We were really looking for the dedicated students,” Kortan says. “And they have already learned what the rigorous curriculum is all about.”
Academics are a focus at ECHS, but there are plenty of clubs and other extracurricular activities as well.
“We have a lot of service projects, and at the end of the quarter we had a silent auction and other activities, making it a very relaxed day for them,” Kortan says.
With such a small number of students, student-teacher interaction is much more prevalent than on larger school campuses, even when the total enrollment grows to cover all four years of high school. That’s one of the school’s major benefits, and it dovetails nicely into the college experience the students are getting at TSTC.
“They’re a little more independent here, which comes with certain responsibilities,” Kortan says. “By the time they’re juniors and seniors, they’ll be very much a part of the TSTC campus. They can participate in their student organizations like the pre-med and pre-engineering clubs.”
The students have already discovered the benefits of the college library when it’s time for research, and they unwind at its athletic and recreational facilities as well. By blending the two campuses as much as is practical, Kortan says the students are getting both a sense of freedom and a quality dual education, which is the purpose of the whole program.
Next up will be recruiting the 2008 freshman class, and this year’s crop is ready to fan out and spread the word.
“We’ll be taking them to all five middle schools, visiting with students and meeting with parents in the evening as well,” Kortan says. “They’re very eager to go back to their home campus and promote ECHS for us.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Jeff Adkins
